


Riding Solo

by sleepy_sphinx



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Giovanni Has Good Friends, Hiding Your Emotions, Hurt/Comfort, One-Shot, but then Dealing With Your Emotions, i just think giovanni needs a hug okay, post redwood arc, short fic, uh I MEAN MINIONS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26277031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepy_sphinx/pseuds/sleepy_sphinx
Summary: in which Giovanni calls his moms after the events of Redwood Run, and is forced to confront the general awfulness of his current situation. But just because he's a solo villain now doesn't mean he has to deal with his problems alone, right?
Relationships: Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	Riding Solo

**Author's Note:**

> wooooo first epithet erased fic!!! ive been trying to write something for this fandom for a Fresh While now, ever since i watched and fell in love with the series a few months ago. And i finally did something!!! its kinda short, but I think it turned out alright? If nothing else it felt nice to write hurt/comfort with my own comfort character, so that's cool. 
> 
> Oh and some random stuff before we start: im headcannoning that crusher's real name is caleb (after his va), and that giovanni and molly exchanged contact information at some point during/after the museum arc, neither of that is important for more than like one line but im saying it anyway to avoid confusion :D
> 
> OH and thanks so much to lgnac, A_Random_Dork, and @crepuscular-shoelace on tumblr for beta reading!!!! y'all are the best
> 
> anyways, without further ado, enjoy the hurt/comfort!

_ “Hello there, you’ve reached the Potage household, unfortunately, we can’t come to the–”  _

_ “MAAAA I CAN’T FIND THE LAVENDER!”  _

_ “Not right now, sweetie, I’m recording our voicemail! Anyway, leave a message after–”  _

_ “Gio, Just take some Advil, for god’s sake–”  _

_ “DO NOT– Ugh. Leave a message after the beep, we will do our best to respond, anyway I have to go, GIOVANNI–” _

_ BEEEEEEP _

“Uh, hey moms! It’s me, Giovanni. I mean, you could probably tell that from my voice. I’m not using my cell phone cause Car Crash said the government could track you through them so I left it at Redwood. Which means that technically I didn’t lose it! So you can’t be too mad! And I’ll go back and get it once this blows over, so it’s all fine!

“Eugh. Ok, maybe it’s not all one hundred percent fine because, through circumstances that were totally out of my control, I may have– er, a cop may have figured out my real name… So, uh, I might be a little bit late for dinner tonight! Or. I guess I already missed it. Sorry. 

“Uh. I’m also sorry that you’re gonna have to deal with the cops showing up when they try to find me. I don’t want you to have to lie to them, so I’m not going to tell you exactly where I’m headed, but it’s safe. You don’t need to worry. Let’s just say I called one of my minions and I’m gonna be  _ crushing _ this on-the-lam life, haha. So it’s all good!

“Except. Uh. I don’t really know when I’ll be coming back? I will, I promise– I just don’t want to get you guys in trouble. And I– I don’t want to get caught, or go to prison, or– I just can’t– I’m–

….

“Heh, sorry, something must’ve gotten caught in my throat. But I’m fine! Really, I am. And I’m not  _ scared _ or anything. So there’s no reason to be concerned! I’ll be back before you’ve even noticed I was gone!”

“But, uh, just in case this takes a little longer to blow over than it probably will. I just wanted to say that, I love you guys, and I’m–”

An obnoxiously loud dial tone cut Giovanni off. He frantically patted his pockets, but he was unfortunately all out of change. After a brief moment, the phone disconnected with a definitive  _ click. _

Giovanni wiped his eyes with the yellow sleeve of his uniform.  _ Stupid _ . He didn’t even say goodbye, which was the whole point of the call anyway. And what sort of supervillain called his mommies for help, anyway? He was just being a  _ coward _ –

“Hey, Gio?” Car Crash knocked on the side of the phone booth, pulling Giovanni out of his own head. “The bus is gonna leave again soon, and I really don’t want to be stranded out here all night…”

“Right, of course!” Giovanni replied a bit too brightly. Car Crash looked at him with concern but didn’t say anything. Giovanni was silently grateful. 

The two teenagers made their way out of the rest stop and onto the bus, where the fluorescent lights almost gave Giovanni a headache. He pointedly ignored the odd looks the three or so other passengers gave him as he walked down the aisle, careful not to get his cape caught in any of the seats. Fortunately, buses leaving a nowhere town at one in the morning didn’t tend to pick up a lot of passengers, so there was plenty of available seating (and fortunately, tickets were much cheaper). Giovanni slid into a window seat and leaned his head against the cool glass.

Car Crash sat down next to him with a contented sigh. “Man, I was almost afraid we were gonna have to walk home. Oh hey! I picked up some snacks from the vending machine while you were busy.” He reached into the pockets of his yellow hoodie and pulled out some assorted candies and a bag of chips. 

“Oooh, great thinking!” Giovanni said, trying to sound upbeat. He eagerly grabbed a chocolate bar, suddenly remembering that the last thing he ate was a pinecone back at the bar. Strangely enough, he wasn’t feeling very hungry. 

Car Crash nodded and opened a pack of M&Ms. The bus suddenly began to rumble, and soon Giovanni was watching as the warm light of the rest stop faded away. Now, the only thing he could see when he looked out the window was his own reflection overlaying an inky void. He sighed. 

“Hey, man… are you okay?” Car Crash asked slowly.

“Pff, of course I’m fine!” Giovanni scoffed, hoping he sounded convincing. “I’m– well, I  _ was _ a Banzai Captain! ...And you know what? I don’t need some title from a con-artist organization to prove my worth as a villain! I can be brave all on my own!”

“Yeah, but you’re not alone,” Car Crash said. “And… I mean, you’re already so much braver than I would be in your situation, but you don’t have to pretend everything’s okay.”

“But  _ complaining _ about being scared isn’t going to help anyone! I’m your boss, you shouldn’t have to waste your time worrying about me!” 

Car Crash put a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, but you said we take care of _ each other. _ That means you have to let your minions take care of you every once in a while, too.” 

Giovanni felt his face heat up, and his eyes suddenly felt all prickly. “Y-yeah,” He said hoarsely, “But– you guys are already helping me out so much! I mean, Crusher’s letting me stay at his house, even though I’m a wanted criminal, and you’re here right now, and–”

“Yeah, 'cause you’re a good boss and we love you! And we know you’d do the same for us.”

“Jeez, Car Crash… you’re really gonna make me feel good about myself at my literal lowest moment, huh?” Giovanni’s voice was dangerously wobbly. 

Car Crash smiled. “Fred, but… yeah, I’m trying my best!” 

“Right. Sorry.” Giovanni used the hem of his cape to wipe off his face. “Eugh… I know we just had a conversation about how I don’t have to hide my feelings and stuff, but do you mind if we wait until after the bus ride to have a mental breakdown?”

“Oh, sure dude! If you need a distraction, I know a few road trip games we could play!” Car Crash replied. “But– just don’t go too hard on yourself, alright? When we get to Caleb’s house you have that mental breakdown! You earned it.” 

“Heh, thanks. But anyways, you mentioned games?”

“Oh, yeah!” Car Crash said brightly. “It helps out a lot when you’re bored in the DMV.” He eagerly began to explain the rules, and Giovanni found that it actually did help him forget the direness of his situation. 

It took about an hour for the bus to drive from the secluded area outside of Redwood to one of Taiga’s busiest cities, and a bit longer to arrive in the suburban area where Crusher lived. Car Crash had already gotten off at the Sweet Jazz stop (after being assured that  _ Giovanni could take a bus by himself, he’s not six, and yes he’s not just pretending to be fine he’s actually got this _ ) so Giovanni had a few moments to himself to think about… everything that had happened. It had been quite the 24 hours. And yeah, everything about it had been horrible. Giovanni fondly remembered earlier that afternoon, when he had just quit the Banzai Blasters and lost the necklace and  _ thought _ he had hit rock bottom. 

And that was  _ another _ thing his moms were probably going to chew him out for. They had insisted he find a criminal gang to join, and not strike out on his own, for his own safety or something. They were probably gonna ground him for this– if he ever saw them again, that is. 

Giovanni swallowed. Ok, so maybe being grounded wasn’t the highest on his list of worries right now. You would think that after an entire evening of planning escape routes and calling friends to see if he could stay the night and spending a ridiculous amount of time in that stupid bush (Giovanni was sure he’d be pulling leaves out of his hair for  _ weeks _ ) that he would have at least gotten adjusted to his fugitive status. But here he was, on the edge of a full-blown breakdown for probably the fifth time that day. A better supervillain would have been able to handle themselves, but Giovanni hadn’t been away from home for less than a night and he was already scared and exhausted, like some kind of lost kitten. Giovanni gripped the armrests. He just had to hold it together for a few more minutes, and then he’d be at Crusher’s house and everything would be  _ fine _ –

Giovanni blinked some tears out of his eyes, remembering where he was headed. He knew he was still screwed, majorly, but– he wasn’t lost, nor was he alone. He had a destination, and a friend waiting there. He had a list of contacts in his phone– everyone from his minions to his moms and extended family to even his newest boy from the museum– that for some reason were eager to help him out. Whatever was going to happen, he was certain that he wasn’t going to be alone. And that felt…  _ really good _ . So yes, his situation was pretty awful. And yeah, he was probably gonna cry about it a lot– he wasn’t a stone-cold master supervillain just yet. But maybe, with a little help, things would turn out fine after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!!! I look forward to writing more epithet stuff in the future :D


End file.
